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High School Student Authors Book

Jessica Bair/SUNCOAST NEWS

YOUNG AUTHOR/ Chelsea DeVries, 16, reads a passage from her book, “Dream Girl” which was published last year.

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By Jessica  Bair | The Suncoast News

Published: October 24, 2007

HUDSON, Fla. - HUDSON, Fla. - While most other 16-year-olds are just getting their driver license, Chelsea DeVries, a Gulf High School student, is already a published author.

On Friday, Chelsea held a book signing and meet-and-greet at the Hudson Regional Library to discuss her first book of a three-part series called "Dream Girl."

The romance novel, which came out last year, is the tale of Jessica Cortez, who is torn between two crushes and the drama that ensues during a weekend trip to Disney World, says Chelsea.

The junior student, who is enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program, says the story developed after writing a short story for class in her freshman year.

"I just kept writing because I thought it was unfinished," she says of her book's beginnings. She finished the manuscript in class while she was supposed to be taking notes, the 16-year-old admits.

The highly motivated teenager then shopped her book to several publishers but found no takers. So, instead she took her savings and invested in a self-publishing company, Outskirts Press.

The publishing process took three months, with Chelsea choosing the purple cover "because it's my favorite color," she said.

Audience members asked questions about the writing process, the pitfalls of publishing and Chelsea's inspiration.

The young talent says she admires the works of Nicholas Sparks, the author of books dealing with themes like Christianity and love and fate, such as "Dear John" and "The Choice;" and Francine Pascal, whose first young adult novel is titled "Hangin' Out With Cici."

While balancing school, writing and homework, Chelsea is now set to promote her book and shop it to bigger publishing houses. She has even contacted Oprah about her work.

She is working on two novels and plans on writing six books total with most of her characters based on people she knows.

"I am proud that she did it on her own," says Chelsea's mother, Karen DeVries, who taught her daughter to save at an early age.

"It wasn't much to lose, so I told her go for it," DeVries says of Chelsea's determination to create the paperback.

In addition to author, the dedicated teen, who grew up wanting to be a veterinarian, says she now wants to study accounting in college.

With writing as her hobby, Chelsea offers some advice to her peers, "If you have an idea, put it down on paper because you never know if it could be published," she says.

"Dream Girl" is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Book-a-Million Web sites.

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